The Search 2024 Continues - Window II

Sara Wolf and Isabella Gerardi Complete

LAKE MEMPHREMAGOG. Two Swimmer Scouts joined us In Search for Memphre on July 8, 2024, swimming the 25-mile length of Lake Memphremagog between Newport, Vermont and Magog, Quebec.  Sara Wolf, 55, of Auburn, Alabama, started from the Newport City Dock at 12:01 am and completed her swim at the beach of Magog Bay Park in Magog, Quebec 17 hours and 22 minutes later. Isabella Gerardi, 19, of Seekonk, Massachusetts entered the water 10 minutes after Sara at 12:11 am, completing her swim to Magog in 14 hours and 1 minute.

Sara was escorted by The Office, piloted by Robert Roberge of Derby, VT and Gary Coburn of Newport Center, Vermont with crew by Teresa Gerade of Newport, VT and boat support by Shelley Roberge. Isabella (Ella) was escorted by Lucky, piloted by Phil White of Derby, Vermont and Vera Rivard of Derby VT. Her mother, Kristen Gerardi, crewed for her.

A third pontoon boat, Molly, was piloted by Benjamin Bryant, of Steuben, Maine and Margaret Rivard of Derby, VT. Molly provided redundancy in case one of the two escort boats ran into trouble and as a moving tripod for our newest Kingdom Games Photographer, Margaret at the Camera.

Here are two links to Margaret’s photos of The Search 2024 - Window II - Select and The Search 2024 – Window II - All

Memphre could not have been more welcoming. A light tail wind ranging from negligible to about 6 mph from the SSW throughout, A cloudless star-lit night. Water temperature ranged from 72 to 76 F. Air temp ranged from the mid to upper 50s at night to low 80s during the afternoon. Although there were warnings of a possibility of heavy fog, it never appeared on the lake (although we could see it in some of the valleys to the south). No rain. The water at dawn offered some delicious swimming for both Sara and Isaabella.

Both swims were conducted in full compliance with traditional channel crossing rules as published by Marathon Swimmers Federation. Each of these swims has been ratified by the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association on Tuesday, July 9, 2024.

Robert Roberge, Gary Coburn, and Ben Bryant are part of the expanded corps of Memphre Boat Pilots, which is made possible by a VOREC grant obtained by Newport Downtown Development. They are all experienced in boating, but are now trained and experienced as escort boat pilots to allow us to expand and strengthen In Search of Memphre.

This year marks a return to the use of the Newport City Dock and Boat Ramp for the start of the swim. This was made possible with the support and approval of Mayor Linda Joy Sullivan, City Manager, Jonathan DeLaBruere, the Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Mike Brown, and the Newport City Council.

In Search of Memphre is held with the support of Barbara Malloy, Vermont’s First Lady Dracontologist, who has documented over 170 sightings of Memphre going back to 1816.

The following day, we signed one of Sara’s and Ella’s nameplates and tacked the others to the wall of The Clubhous Garage. Later that afternoon, Sara and Ella recorded their swims on the ceiling above the bar at Jasper’s Tavern in downtown Newport.

Sara and Ella are the 2^nd and 3^rd completions of the 2024 season. Caroline Block led the way in June. 12 more swimmers will be making the attempt in July, August, and September.

Ella, at 19, becomes the third youngest swimmer to complete The Search, Vera Rivard being the youngest, at age 14, and Margaret Rivard the second youngest, at age 15.

For Sara and Ella this 25-Mile Search was the longest swim of their lives.

Unlike Ella (see below), Sara is an adult onset marathon swimmer. Sara’s first marathon swim was a 6.5 mile swim around Province Island at The Clubhous during NEK Swim Week in 2017, when she was 48. Her first marathon race was the 10 km Bridges to Bluffs, which she completed in 2019 and again in 2021. She has also swum The Suck, Boston Light, Mobile Bay, and 3 Rivers. She was scheduled to swim the Search last year, but heavy, prolonged rains, flash floods, and rising lake levels closed us down for 6 weeks. But she’s back this year. With this swim under her belt, she’s set her sights on SCAR and the English Channel in 2025.

Ella started competitive swimming when she was 8, in order to beat her older brother at something. Later, as a teen, one of her pool coaches suggested she try a one-mile, open water swim, the Buzzard Bay one-mile in 2018. She loved it and was on her way. When she learned that a scrappy 16-year- old had swum the English Channel (Vera), she discovered Vera’s ladder going long was Kingdom Swim. She signed up for her first marathon swim at Kingdom Swim in 2021 (10 km) finishing 3^rd at age 16. Vera was swimming the Border Buster that year. They met and have become good friends since. She finished 9^th in the 10-mile race at Kingdom Swim a year later. Last year she completed a brutal 15-mile triple cross of Lake Willoughby, (the re-venued Kingdom Swim) with two of those legs into a fierce wind of 10 to 15 mph.  She has her sights on 20 Bridges and beyond. Ella is also a member of the Memphremagog Winter Swimming Society, competing in our winter swim Festival in 2024. Note to Evan Morrison at Marathon Swimmers Federation, probably time to add Ella to the MSF profiles in your Data Base. 

Two very different stars were born during this swim. Both are now launched. And we had the honor and joy of watching it unfold before our very eyes. 

Kingdom Games now hosts over 50 days of swimming, running, and biking events in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and the Eastern Townships of Quebec. They are highly acclaimed, recreational athletic endurance events, challenging to the very best, with options that make them accessible for all, newcomers and seasoned veterans, young and old alike. They are held in venues that showcase the very best of the Northeast Kingdom, its four seasons, its wide open “vista riddled” roads, its legendary lakes, and its working agricultural landscape.

Over the past decade, Kingdom Games has drawn thousands of participants, kayakers, volunteers, friends and family from over 45 states and 4 Canadian provinces as well as Mexico, Argentina, Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Latvia, Finland, Russia, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, Australia, New Zealand and Switzerland. 

They have been made possible by a host of sponsors, partners, friends, and volunteers who support the mission of The Games to help make the Northeast Kingdom a mecca for these sporting communities of swimmers, runners, and cyclists.

Kingdom Games is a small business that pays taxes and, based on the principles of Newman’s Own, dedicates all net profits to local charities, organizations, and good causes. Over the past 9 years this has totaled over $65,000. We purchase all products and services from local businesses, whenever possible.